* Qu. ' ruin ? ' — Ed.
176 COMMENTARY ON
dear children. Therefore Herod presumed to go on and lay hold on Peter. But the church falls a-praying, and God smites Herod with a fearful death. He was eaten up with lice, with worms bred in his body, Acts xii. 23.
So I say it is no good argument to say, I have prospered in wicked courses, I do prosper, and therefore I shall prosper. I have gotten a great deal of goods by ill means, and I have kept such ill company ; and though some mislike my courses, yet I hope to-morrow shall be as to-day, &c. Take heed, bless not thyself. ' God's wrath will smoke,' Deut. xxix. 20, against such. ' Treasure not up wrath unto thyself against the day of wrath,' Ilom. ii. 5. Argue not so upon God's patience. It is an argument for God's children. He hath been my God, he is my God, and he will be my God. It is a sophism else for others, and as the prophet Amos saith, ' He that hath escaped the lion shall fall into the hands of the bear,' v. 19. So the wicked that escape one danger shall fall into another at length. It is no good argument for them to hope for the like of that they have had.
Nay, rather it is the worst outward sign in this world of a man in the state of reprobation, of a man hated of God, to prosper and have security in ill courses. God blesseth him, and lets him go on in smooth courses. As the streams of Jordan go on smooth and still, and then enter into the Dead Sea ; so many men live and go on in smooth, easy courses, and we see at length they either end in despair, as Judas, or in deadness of heart, as Nabal. So that of all estates it is the most miserable when a man lives in a naughty course, and God interrupts him not in his course with some out- ward judgment. It is a reason only for the children of God to support them- selves with, in a good cause, wherein they walk with a good conscience. Then they may say truly, God, that hath been my God till now, will be my God to the end of my days.
Use. Is God so constant to his children in his love, and in his fatherly care and providence, that whom he hath delivered, he doth deliver and will deliver ? Let us be constant in our service, and love hack af/ain. Let us return the echo back again, and say, I have served God, I do serve God, and I will serve God ; because he hath loved me, he doth love me, and he will love me. He hath delivered me, he doth deliver me, and he will de- liver me. As he is constant in love to me, so will I be constant in respect, in reverence and obedience to him.
Therefore we see the saints of God, as God loves them from everlasting to everlasting, being Jehovah, as he never alters in his nature, so not in his love to them ; so they never alter in their love to him. Therefore it is a clause in Scriptm'e expressed by holy men, ' To whom be praise for ever,' Ps. cxi. 10. As they knew that he was their God for ever and for ever, so they purposed to be his people, and to praise him for ever and for ever. And because they cannot live here alway themselves, they desire that there may be a generation to praise him for ever and for ever, and they lay a plot and ground so much as they can, that God's name may be known, that religion may be propagated for ever. They know God is their God for ever. They know he is constant in love to them, and they are constant in their love to him, and for his glory, ' To whom be glory for ever.'
See here the happiness of a true Christian that is in covenant with God ; he can say, I have had my happiness and my portion, I have it, and I shall have it for ever. Take a worldling, can he say so ? He cannot. God will confound his insolence if he should say so. I have been rich, I have prospered in my course, I have attained to this and that means, I yet thrive, and I shall thrive, Aye, is it so ? No ! Thou buildest upon the
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 11. 177
sands. Howsoever God bath done, and howsoever he doth, thou canst not secure thyself for the time to come. Only the Christian that makes God his rock and his fortress, his shield and strong tower of defence, he may say he hath had that which is certain, he enjoys that which is immutable and constant. God is bis portion, his eternal portion. He bath been good, he is good, and he will be good to eternity. No man else, that hath a severed happiness out of God, can say so.
A sound Christian, take him in all references of time, he is a happy man. If he look back, God hath delivered him from Satan, from hell and damnation, and many dangers. If be look to the present, he is compassed iibout with a guard of angels, and with the providence of God. God doth deliver him. He hath a guard about him that cannot be seen but with the eye of faith. The devil sees it well enough, as we see in Job, ' Thou hast hedged him about,' Job i. 10. How can I come to him '? He looked about to see if he could come into Job, to see if the hedge had any breach, but there was none. God's providence compassed him about. God hath and doth deliver. And if he look to the time to come he will dehver, he seeth that ' neither things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate him from the love of God,' Rom. viii. 38.